Sleat & Strath Pick up first Silverware of the season

posted 4 Jun 2013, 05:24 by Ben MacKinnon

Sleat & Strath faced Kyleakin on Friday night in the final of the GF MacRae Cup.

Kyleakin had defeated Dunvegan 5-1 in the 2nd round, where Sleat & Strath had made light work of 10 man Struan. Both teams had considerably tougher tests in the Semi Finals however, with Sleat & Strath coming back from behind to win in extra-time against Portree Juniors, and Kyleakin needing penalties to get them past Kyle. The Semi Final results, combined with a history of close encounters between the clubs, lead up to what many expected to be a tight final.

The result, in truth, couldn't have been further from that. Sleat & Strath were able to continue the dominant form they had shown in the previous two league fixtures, with the entire team raring to take on their south end rivals. From the minute the game kicked off Sleat & Strath were piling pressure on the Kyleakin goal, and after 15 minutes the pressure paid off. James Robertson was waiting at the back post for a corner, and got his head on it to make it 1-0.

Fifteen minutes later, Jamie Graham made a great run down the left wing before firing in from a tight angle to double Sleat & Straths lead. Gordon MacCarroll then extended the lead further just before half time. From the edge of the box he was able to lift the ball over the Kyleakin goalkeeper for Sleat & Strath to take a 3-0 lead into the interval.

The manager didn't need to give much of a team talk as Sleat & Strath were playing exceptionally well, and the boys looked focused. Shortly after halftime Connaire Yoxon, who was later named Man of the Match, scored to make it 4-0.

And that's how the score stayed, though Kyleakin were lucky it wasn't more, and only managed one shot on goal themselves all game. Sleat & Strath were able to comfortably use all five substitutions to keep legs fresh through to the end of the match.

The victory saw Sleat & Strath retain the GF MacRae cup for the fifth season in a row. It also perhaps gave them some retribution over for the final league game of last season, where Kyleakin beat Sleat & Strath to claim the title. The two teams will also face each other again this Saturday in the league, with Sleat & Strath currently holding a three point advantage over their opponents, though Kyleakin do have a game in hand.